Pasture Fed Livestock (Sheep & Goat):

• Pasture fed in spring, summer and fall; with winter forage grasses like rye, oats and barley starting winter 2009.
• Our sheep breeds include Dorsets, Tunis, Katahdins, and Shetlands.
• Our goat breeds are mostly Boer.

• Organic Health Care Program:  GTF plans to enroll in the NJ Sheep and Goat Health Assurance Program administered by the Division of Animal Health at the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.

Cage-Free Poultry and Eggs:  Planned for Summer 2009.

General:

• To start our sheep operation, we had to purchase sheep from other farms.  This meant that we could not market these sheep as certified organic because they had been born and raised on farms that do not use organic means of livestock husbandry.  However, our sheep have been on pasture since late summer 2007 and we market them as pasture-fed. 
  

• We pal to enroll our sheep, goat and poultry operation in the NJ Organic Certification program in Spring 2011.
  

• All animals initially bought from other farms are maintained as ‘Organic Breeders’, in accordance with the National Organic Program guidelines and the NJ Organic certification requirements. 
  

• All animals born on the farm after winter 2008/2009 will be maintained as Certified Organic’ and will be marketed as organic and pasture-fed once approved by the NJ Organic Certification program in 2011.  The number of certified organic and pasture fed livestock will increase as breeding between the rams and ewes continues.
  

Customers Please Note:

Whether regarded as 100% organic by the NJ Organic Certification authority or not, we do feel that all our sheep are organic in the real sense of the word because:

• Our livestock is not fed antibiotics.
• Our livestock is not fed hormones.
• Our livestock is not confined in a feedlot - but allowed to graze on pasture.
• Our livestock is treated humanely and properly cared for.

Good Tree Farm has arranged for its livestock to be processed at a USDA-inspected slaughter facility.  Thus, we now retail meat by the pound.  We permit on-farm custom slaughtering and processing by our customers at specific times of the year, but only after the customer has bought and paid for the animal in full.